Yankee Stadium construction behind schedule

News has been scant about the Yankee Stadium construction. While my flickr photoset of the construction shows the glacial pace of building a stadium, we haven’t really had confirmation that new Yankee Stadium is, as I half-guessed earlier this month, well behind schedule.

That is, we hadn’t had confirmation until this morning. As The New York Sun notes, construction on Yankee Stadium is three months behind schedule in some places, according to people working on the site. The Sun reports:

On the other side of town, at the new Yankee Stadium, the heavy metal extending skyward, toward the baseball gods, is less visible. The concrete façade that will form the exterior of the stadium is constructed behind home plate, and workers are expanding it along both base lines. However, it extends just a short distance toward left and right field, and the steel framework for the upper deck is constructed only in the area behind home plate.

An ironworker who was working at the stadium this weekend and did not give his name said the construction of the concrete façade is three months behind schedule. He also said the portion of façade he was working on yesterday was supposed to be up by April.

The Yankees organization refused to participate in this article. A spokeswoman for the Yankees, Alice McGillion, denied that the concrete façade is behind schedule. “We are not behind. Absolutely not,” she said. “We are different than the Mets. We are not following the Mets’ way of doing things. We are doing it our own way.”

Well, if you take a look at the state of CitiField and the state of the new Yankee Stadium, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that Yankee Stadium is behind schedule. I was at Shea this past weekend, and the stadium there is much further along than the $1.2 billion behemoth in the Bronx. I’m sure the Yanks will get the stadium open in time for Opening Day 2009, but the clock is ticking.

In other stadium news, the city is having problems finding someone to run the parking garages. New York has come under fire from anti-public funding advocates for doling out $70 million to the garages around the stadium. News that the latest developers may default on another taxpayer-funded project may rankle more than a few residents.

how is it possible to fall 3 months behind? its takes 6 weeks of half-assing to fall behind that much (in a literal sense). how long has it even been since they broke ground?

http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.

They broke ground last year. I bet they’re not three months behind schedule. Some disgruntled worker probably started that one. But I don’t think their on schedule right now.

http://riveraveblues.com Mike A.

Trust me, 3 months behind schedule for a $1.2 billion project (is that number right? If so, then holy fuckin’ shit) is nothing. 3 month delays are a bigger problem when your construction schedule runs say, 8 months, as opposed to 24. I’d be very, very shocked if it wasn’t ready for Opening Day 2009.

The “Big Dig” up in Boston is 5 yrs behind schedule and already $11 billion over-budget. Only Boston…

dan

wait, the big dig isnt done yet? they were working on that when we took a field trip there in 5th grade (1999 i think)

http://attyahoo pete

The union tradesmen on the job are the best in the bussiness.Heck the yanks are behind schedule,too! We will be ready in 09 and in October!GO BOMBERS!!!